Somewhere in Alaska

Chapter One

As Stephanie came around she tried to open her eyes, she felt nothing but pain. Her head felt as though it had been split in two, her body was aching from head to toe, and she felt exhausted. Once she had managed to open her eyes properly, all she saw was darkness around her, and the glow of a small camp fire a few meters away.

Two days earlier...

"Come on Steph, I'd like to find somewhere before dark," said Grant jokingly as he rushed ahead of the others, "There'll be plenty of time for sightseeing don't worry."

"We've still got hours of daylight left, what's the rush?" asked Stephanie.

"We've been walking for hours, I'm hungry, tired, and want to set up camp for the night, why don't we just pick somewhere here?" Said Grant as he looked around, "Look, there's a good spot, let's just stop here please?"

The group stopped in their tracks, and had a quick rest while Mark went to take a look at the spot Grant had noticed.

"Grant, what's going on mate?" asked Mark whilst looking around.

"Nothing, I'm worn out. You lot do this all the time, it's not really my thing you know that, I'm tired and I've had enough for today," said grant as he took his backpack off.

"Okay, well this spot seems fine anyway, call them all over and we'll get set up," Mark replied as he held his hands out towards Grant, "Give us your bag then you've got our tent,"

Grant handed his backpack to Mark and wandered over to the group.

"Come on then, we're stopping here for the night, let's get the tents up," said Grant with a smile on his face, "Oi Paul get the beers out, this hiking business is thirsty work!"

Paul struggled with the weight of his backpack as he took it off. He emptied his bag out one item at a time to reveal the groups drinking supplies for the week; two bottles of whisky, one bottle of vodka and sixteen cans of beer. The guys all took a can each and started to drink, meanwhile Stephanie and Amber continued to set their tent up,

"Why don't you let us lads do that for you in a bit? Sit yourselves down and rest those little feet," said Paul with a mischievous but playful look on his face.

"Because we want them done now and properly, not half done by dark by you drunken lot," replied Stephanie, "and you're mad if you think you're going to cope with tomorrows walk drinking at that pace!"

Paul glanced down at his already half drank beer, and then at his untouched, still packed tent, "I bet I'll have my tent up before yours," he said as he placed his can on the ground.

Almost half hour had passed and the group were just finishing putting their tents up, Amber and Grant were sharing, Chloe and Mark were sharing, Stephanie had her own tent, as did Paul.

Paul started to pile up some twigs and sticks for a fire, whilst Grant and Amber lit a couple of disposable barbeques and unpacked the food ready for dinner.

"There we go Paul, that tent wasn't as hard to do whilst sober was it?" asked Stephanie with a grin on her face.

"I have to admit you're right," said Paul as he chuckled, "but you know me, can never resist a drink!"

"Speaking of which, who is thirsty?" asked Grant, reaching for the drinks.

"I say we all have a toast, the first day here has been great and we've got five more fun filled days to come," Stephanie said whilst handing out plastic cups to everyone.

"I'll drink to that," said Chloe reaching for a bottle of whisky, "as will everyone else, we'll have no boring nights on this trip" she said laughing and winking at Mark.